By reason of religious doctrines and discipline, the Buddhist orders were rarely involved in the military in the development of Chinese Buddhism. According to the historical sources, however, it still can be seen that the armed Buddhist orders were built to maintain public security and provide military assistance, or else, to organize insurrectional groups which caused social turbulences. The Buddhists accepted and rationalized the existence of armaments, a reciprocal effect by Buddhism and society. 1 have investigated the research in the armed Buddhist orders during the Southem-Northem Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, and clarified that these orders were built for self-defense at wartime. Regardless of the monks' taking part of the war, the armed Buddhist orders for self-defense or military assistance during the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, or the Mount Wutai during the Tang Dynasty to the Early Song Dynasty, the armed Buddhist orders were organized due to the climate of martial art leaming and the border locations, which were extremely related to the contemporary social structure and social environment. As we can see from the form and operation of the armed Buddhist orders, the competitions between political power and the Buddhist power directly ref1ected the relationship between politics and religion. This manifests the fact that although Buddhism intended to be an outsider, it was difficult to escape from society.
